Regina Seniors are Freshmen at NDC

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio—7 September 2010

When Regina High School closed its doors this summer, Notre Dame College launched a unique program that allows those students who are seniors this year to obtain a 2011 Regina diploma while simultaneously earning a full year of college credit. Thirty students are participating in the program called Seniors at Notre Dame, or SAND. WKYC-TV reporter Dick Russ visited the campus last week to ask the Regina girls about their experiences so far. His report follows:

They are not quite sure if they're high school seniors or college freshmen. Actually, 30 young women now on the campus of Notre Dame College are both.

Through a unique arrangement between the now-closed Regina High School and its South Euclid neighbor, Notre Dame College, 30 students are able to combine their senior year of high school with what amounts to their freshman year of college.

"Yesterday, I was at my singing class, and they're like, introduce yourselves, what year are you?" says Sarah Bender, who spent her freshman through junior years at Regina High School. "And I was like, I don't know. Do I call myself a senior? Do I tell them I'm a freshman?"

Sarah told them she is in the SAND Program. It stands for Seniors at Notre Dame, the opportunity for the Regina girls to stay together for their senior year and earn college credits.

When the announcement was made that Regina would close in June, 2010, Sarah's reaction was like that of most of the then-junior class.

"I had no idea where I was going to go," she told WKYC. "Then I heard the news and I was like, this is going to be great. And it turned out to be great and I'm really liking it."

The 30 students take some strictly high school classes, and others which can earn them up to a full year of transferable college credit, says SAND Director Rosemary Lips.

"They're taking everything from physics, anatomy, psychology, anthropology, just a wide variety of classes," she explained.

"For example, political science and government class they're all together and it's strictly high school credit, then there are two levels of English, high school and college."

The program is similar to an attempt the state of Ohio began in 2008 with its Senior to Sophomore initiative, says Roger Abood, Notre Dame College's coordinator for dual enrollment.

"This is really a great spinoff of what that program (Senior to Sophomore) intended to be," Abood said. "We are very confident these ladies can handle the rigor of a college course and the structure of a college curriculum."

Abood says the Regina girls were selected for their ability to handle the dual enrollment.

"I think it's going to be a challenge and we told them that from the beginning," he told WKYC, "but they seem to be very well-equipped to do this."

"If nothing else, it will show that it is a possibility, a real viable alternative, for those young people who are adequately prepared in high school to transition easily into a college setting," Abood said.

The students who complete this year of dual enrollment will actually earn a Regina High School Class of 2011 diploma, even though the school is officially closed and the building is being converted to Notre Dame College classrooms and offices.

"It means a lot because, even though the school is closed," says Clare Larry, who displayed her student ID card which has the logos of both Regina and Notre Dame.

"It feels great to know that I can still get the diploma from Regina and I don't have to go anywhere else."

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Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922 as a Catholic, four-year liberal arts institution for women, Notre Dame College sits on 48 picturesque wooded acres, tucked away in South Euclid, a quiet suburban neighborhood just 25 minutes from downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

A Catholic institution in the tradition of the Sisters of Notre Dame, the College educates a diverse population in the liberal arts for personal, professional and global responsibility.

Since Notre Dame College began admitting men in 2001, enrollment has reached almost 2,000 students. The College offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees in over 30 disciplines as well as 22 scholarship athletic sports.